It’s Time to Rethink Legal Talent

For legal leaders, the pressure is on like never before. Today’s general counsel is under unrelenting pressure to perform under increasingly fast-paced, complicated and unpredictable conditions.

GCs are pulled in so many different directions. More than ever, GCs must serve as a strategic partner to the business, possibly supporting a new product development or expansion into a new market. They are constantly in rapid-response mode, reacting to a bevy of requests that often seem to come with expectations of superhuman-level turnaround times. GCs sometimes need to play a crisis management role, which can throw predictability and productivity off balance. At the same time, GCs must act as a chief talent officer, keeping a pulse on high-performing individuals and thinking of ways to prevent burn-out.

It’s no wonder GCs and their teams are frustrated with the status quo for hiring legal talent and the existing duopoly between outsourcing work to law firms or hiring additional in-house team members. So, let’s change that. It’s time to empower the modern legal department, and we can start right now by exploring ways to rethink legal talent.